P C Balasubramiam, as he was known outside the family circles, had alienated himself from rest of the Pollachi clan for several years. Because he held a grudge against some of his elders in the family in the matter of division of ancestral property. No other member of the family saw much merit in his claim. Nor did Balamama have a case that could stand legal scrutiny. Nonetheless he carried the grudge to his grave.
This photo is nearly four decades old; and it is a pity we don't have a better or a later picture of Balamama(right). Now that his death has taken away the prime cause for the family divide, we could hope to reconnect and have his daughters and their families contribute to this family blog. For a start, let us have the latest photo of Balamama and his family for the benefit of those who have long been out of touch. Incidentally, when we created this blog I tried getting in touch with Murali, Balamama's son-in-law, but the mail bounced back because the e-mail ID I got was no longer valid. We were so out of touch; and still are. He could contact me at gv.krishnan@gmail.com ; and we can take it from there.It must be said during his lifetime no one took initiative to make peace with Balamama. Nor did he seem amenable to reasoning and see the futility of pursuing a quarrel over a perceived grudge. So bitter was his relationship that he rarely, if at all, visited his native Pollachi ever since he sold his portion of the ancestral property many decades back. The last time I recall he came to Pollachi was five years ago, when my father died.
Balamama had special respect for, and felt indebted to my father, who was instrumental in getting him a central government job. Before he joined the customs and central excise depatment Balamama held a small-time job in a milk co-operative at Kovilpalayam near Pollachi. The family quarrel,which was basically Balamama's own making, had cramped his style. He was known for his sense of humour and I counted him as the liveliest of my five Pollachi uncles. And he had a flair for music, and a voice comparable to that of Srikazhi Govindarajan.
In Mysore, we first heard about Balamama's death from my nephew Raja chakrapani (Baby's son) who phoned from Chennai. Subsequently, chittappa Padmanabhan called from Pollachi. When we called Balamama's place at jhafferkhanpet, his daughter Suganthi came on line. She said her father complained of uneasiness in the chest the night before, but they attributed it to gastric trouble.
The Balamama I used to know had problem limiting intake of the food items he relished. Anyway, when his trouble persisted Balamama was moved to a hospital,where he breathed his last around 7 a m. Suganthi said the doctor attributed her father's death to complications related to ageing.
3 comments:
Indeed it is a real loss to the clan; I am very fond of him in my childhood days; I still remember that he was the only man who came like a god when my younger brother (Krishnan) Died in the year 1972 in an unnatural death and Balumama was the one who took the responsibility of the rituals since my father was out-of-the city at the time of this incident. I could still remember that Balumama use to listen to the news in the Radio (Transister - a nee-name or a slang)where-ever he is to be and practise his short-hand;
I still remember that he invented a coffee-filter while he stayed in Hyderabad (a work posting) alone & bought an Aluminium tumbler and punctured the bottom with holes (I came to know of this when he nerrated this to me on one of his visits);
In a rare feat of relation-ship, he is the only person with whom my father use to talk for hours; and incidetally, Balumama is one of the key persons to front-end the responsibility of my sister's marriages (Nagi).
The greatest asset of Balumama was that he used to be very forth-coming in the family functions - be it a marriage, or a upanayanam etc.,
We owe him a life time respect and I volunteer an help to his when-ever they need & what-ever they need.
Perhaps, he may be wishing us from heaven for what he has missed on earth.
Good man and a Good Soul.
Cheenu,
I felt sad when i came to know of his death. I remember the days he spent in Delhi with us... we went on a trip to Agra with him and his daughter, Manju... He would make fun of everything and make everything humorous for us. God rest his soul in peace.
It is a very great loss to all those who understood him. A man full of lively jokes an wits with wisdom, he was really a jem to all young and old. I learnt a lot from him and started admiring from the date of my marriage way back in 1974. he had been an inspiration to our life. In spite of later family fued with his brothers and brother in law he used to give his valuable advises to us. He even attended the Nichayathartham of our son Shankar at Chennai in 2007, in spite of bad health that time. We still remeber his timely jokes and comments. Let his soul rest in peace.
Govindan
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